Author - Don Pogreba

Don Pogreba is a current writer and retired teacher of English, Social Studies and Debate, and a loyal, if often sad, fan of the San Diego Padres and Portland Timbers. When he is not traveling, he is working on his classroom web site or dreaming about another adventure.

Common Instruction is Uncommonly Bad for Our Students

The year was 2014, and everybody was finally equal. I’ve been a teacher for fourteen years, thirteen in the Helena School District, and I’ve never been more nervous about my future as an educator. In the time I’ve spent as a teacher, I’ve endured some principals with dubious qualifications, a vacuum where a curriculum should have been...

Black Hills and the Badlands, July 2013

Badlands Overlook Mining Museum in Lead, SD Sunflowers in the Badlands Wall Drug Badlands Buffalo Badlands Custer State Park Devil’s Tower Needles Highway Badlands Lead, South Dakota Eastern Badlands Panoramic Road in Badlands Crazy Horse Monument Mount Rushmore Deadwood Cemetery Badlands Tatanka, Story of the Bison Sunflower in...

Iceland, March 2014

This was the trip of the open road, no itinerary, and free discovery. Renting a camper from Happy Camper and Iceland’s liberal laws about open camping meant I could drive where I wanted and sleep when and wherever I felt tired.  Some of the best moments of this trip were entirely unplanned, like unexpectedly arriving at the...

San Francisco, 2012 and 2013

Golden Gate Japanese Tea Gardens, Golden Gate Park Palace of Fine Arts Golden Gate Bridge Alcatraz Marin Headlands Vesuvio Cafe Chinatown Chinatown Cable Car Rocinante, from Travels with Charley Muir Woods Golden Gate Moray Eel Timshel Lighthouse on the road from Salinas AT&T Park Golden Gate Park Alcatraz San Francisco Overview The...

Banff, July 2013

Banff was an incredible journey to the first place that made me wonder if Glacier National Park was the most beautiful spot in the world, which is saying something.

Ireland, August 2012

Hurling National Semifinal Cliffs of Mohr Joyce Museum Dublin Street Wicklow Way Molly Malone Statue in Dublin St. Stephen’s Green Statue Blarney Castle First Guinness Famine Memorial Statue in Dublin James Joyce Christchurch Cathedral Guinness Tour Cliffs of Mohr Christchurch Cathedral Dublin Castle

I am not a Dime a Dozen!

Among my favorite texts to teach every year in AP Literature is Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, which never fails to move me—and even occasionally has the same impact on teenagers who seem a bit more jaded than I am. I’ve had students weep in the last few moments of the play while we read it aloud, when Willy, the protagonist of the...

Monday Morning Mental Mix

Monday Morning Mental Mix is a collection of articles I stumbled across during the preceding week, not necessarily articles written or published in the past seven days. It will generally be an eclectic collection of items that made it into my Diigo feed or onto Instapaper. If you have any great articles to share, please feel free to send...